2nd LD Writethru: Nuke elimination top priority for UN, says Ban

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Monday that "eliminating nuclear weapons is a top priority for the United Nations," calling upon countries to work hard and constructively in the coming weeks to produce an outcome that strengthens the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).

The secretary-general made the statement in his message to the opening of a month-long review conference of the parties to the NPT. The message was read by Deputy UN Secretary-General Jan Eliasson to the conference, which runs from April 27 to May 22.

"Eliminating nuclear weapons is a top priority for the United Nations," Ban said. "No other weapon has the potential to inflict such wanton destruction on our world."

According to the UN chief, the Non-Proliferation Treaty is the cornerstone of the non-proliferation regime and an essential basis for realizing a nuclear-weapon-free world.

Conferences to review the operation of the treaty have been held at five-year intervals since the treaty went into effect in 1970. Each conference has sought to find agreement on a final declaration that would assess the implementation of the treaty's provisions and make recommendations on measures to further strengthen it.

"I call upon States parties to work hard and constructively in the coming weeks to produce an outcome that strengthens the treaty, " the secretary-general said. "We need an outcome that promotes its universality, ensures compliance by all Parties with all provisions, and reinforces the NPT's principal goals which are to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and bring about their elimination."

He urged all parties to build on common ground, be inclusive and show flexibility.

In 2010, agreement on the 64-point Action Plan, together with progress on the 1995 Resolution on the Middle East after 15 years of inaction, resulted in a successful Review Conference, Ban noted. "Agreement on the Action Plan represented a high point of international consensus, delivering a road-map for achieving the treaty's aims."

"This conference must now demonstrate how and when the Action Plan will be implemented -- or it could risk fading in relevance," he said. "Such progress demands that every State Party comply with its obligations under each of the treaty's mutually reinforcing pillars."

The UN chief said the NPT is a grand bargain underpinned by the symbiotic relationship between nuclear disarmament and non- proliferation, adding "One cannot be advanced without the other. Progress on both is in everybody's interest."

Since the last Review Conference, the danger posed by nuclear weapons is still there, he said.

"Between 1990 and 2010, the international community took bold steps towards a nuclear weapon-free world," he said. "There were massive reductions in deployed arsenals. States closed weapons facilities and made impressive moves towards more transparent nuclear doctrines."

The UN chief is deeply concerned that over the last five years this process seems to have stalled. "It is especially troubling that recent developments indicate that the trend towards nuclear zero is reversing."

"Instead of progress towards new arms reduction agreements, we have allegations about destabilizing violations of existing agreements," he said.

Ban believes that the next few weeks will be challenging as you seek to advance our shared ambition to remove the dangers posed by nuclear weapons," he said. "This is a historic imperative of our time."

"I call on you to act with urgency to fulfill the responsibilities entrusted to you by the peoples of the world who seek a more secure future for all," Ban added.

The ongoing event at UN Headquarters in New York is the ninth Review Conference of the treaty and the fourth to be held since May 1995, when State parties adopted decisions on the indefinite extension of the treaty, on the strengthening of its review process and on principles and objects for nuclear non- proliferation and disarmament, together with a resolution on the Middle East.

The NPT is a landmark international treaty whose objective is to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology, to promote cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy and to further the goal of achieving nuclear disarmament and general and complete disarmament.

The NPT represents the only binding commitment in a multilateral treaty to the goal of disarmament by the nuclear- weapon States. Endite